Drive for the multiplicator and/or quotient mechanism of calculating machines

ABSTRACT

The specification discloses a drive arrangement for use in a calculating machine having a drive shaft. An eccentric on the drive shaft is engaged by one end of a lever which has at least one control tooth on the other end adjacent a gear to be driven. An intermediate region of the lever is guided along a path such that rotation of the drive shaft will oscillate the lever to move the control tooth along a closed path which is within the range of the teeth of the gear while the lever moves in one direction and outside the range of the teeth while the lever moves in the other direction. Also disclosed is a second gear meshing with the above-mentioned gear and a second control tooth on the lever laterally spaced from the first-mentioned control tooth so that relative lateral shifting of the lever and gears will bring about selective actuation of the gears upon rotation of the drive shaft.

United States Patent [72] Inventors GottfriedBurkhardt [54] DRIVE FOR THE MULTIPLICATOR AND/OR QUOTIENT MECHANISM OF CALCULATING MACHINES 5 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs. [52] US. Cl 235/1, 235/63, 74/118 [51] Int. Cl G06c 23/00, Fl6h 29/00 [50] Field ofSearch 74/118,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 757,137 4/1904 Munro 74/118 FOREIGN PATENTS 277,362 12/1951 Switzerland 235/63 Primary ExaminerStephen J. Tomsky At!orneyWalter Becker ABSTRACT: The specification discloses a drive arrangement for use in a calculating machine having a drive shaft. An eccentric on the drive shaft is engaged by one end of a lever which has at least one control tooth on the other end adjacent a gear to be driven. An intermediate region of the lever is guided along a path such that rotation of the drive shaft will oscillate the lever to move the control tooth along a closed path which is within the range of the teeth of the gear while the lever moves in one direction and outside the range of the teeth while the lever moves in the other direction. Also disclosed is a second gear meshing with the above-mentioned gear and a second control tooth on the lever laterally spaced from the first-mentioned control tooth so that relative lateral shifting of the lever and gears will bring about selective actuation of the gears upon rotation of the drive shaft.

DRIVE FOR THE MULTIPLHCATOR AND/OR QUOTIENT MECHANISM OF CALCULATING MACHINES The present invention relates to a drive for the multiplicator and/or quotient mechanism of calculating machines which is intended for transforming a uniform rotary movement into a nonuniform rotary movement with only one direction of rotation or two different directions of rotation by means of a control means one end of which is eecentrically mounted on the drive shaft of the machine whereas the intermediate portion of the control means is guided, and the other end of the control means is adapted whenever desired to act upon counting wheels of the said mechanism.

Devices of the above-mentioned general type are known. In this connection there may be mentioned a driving device for a one-tooth member on IO-key-calculating machines, especially balancing machines with a multiplicator mechanism and a control pin carriage adapted to be coupled to the one-tooth members. Eccentrically arranged on the main drive shaft of this machine is a so-called rocker having one end thereof provided with a roller while its intermediate or central portion is provided with a nearly rectangular cutout. This cutout is engaged by a guiding shaft which is stationarily journaled in the machine. Connected to another shaft are the gears of the multiplicator mechanism while on a drive shaft provided with a crank there are eecentrically arranged one-tooth members which are adapted selectively to mesh with the gears. Since the roller of the rocker is in engagement with the crank of the drive shaft, it will be appreciated that in view of the oscillating movement of the rocker, the drive shaft will be driven nonuniformly. The one-tooth member which at its front portion is provided with a likewise nearly rectangular cutout is passed through a shaft which is stationarily arranged in the machine and in conformity with the nonuniformly moved drive shaft engages the gears of the multiplicator mechanism.

According to another heretofore known driving device which in view of the few elements and low costs involved represents an improved device, the drive of a counting finger is principally the same. On the other hand, however, the advance of the counting wheels from a nose on the free end of the counting finger is effected merely by an intermediate gear.

. The carriage carrying the gears is pivoted toward the intermediate gear so that depending on the positive or negative transfer, one of the two interengaging counting gears will engage the intermediate gear. The respective counting gear should be advanced as precisely as possible by one division in order to assure such operation and on the other hand to prevent a backward turning of the counting wheel. With this embodiment one of the tooth flanks of the intermediate wheel is engaged by a spring-loaded pawl in the manner of a pawl ratchet mechanism.

It is an object of the present invention to provide means for simplifying devices of the type involved and reducing the noise thereof.

It is another object of this invention to improve devices of the above-mentioned type in such a manner that the running noise of the machine will be considerably reduced.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly from the following specification in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

HO. 1 diagrammatically illustrates a side view of the driving device according to the present invention showing in full lines the basic position and showing in dot-dash lines the engaging position.

FIG. 2 represents a section taken along the line 11- of FIG. 1

- The device according to the present invention is characterized primarily by the direct engagement of the counting wheel to be driven by means of an oscillating lever which in a manner known per so has a free end, and is furthermore characterized by the course of movement of the oscillating lever the basic position of which calls for a distance between the free end of the oscillating lever and the respective pertaining teeth of the counting wheel to be driven, the oscillating lever when occupying a position representing the counter pole to the basic position, arresting the gear after an effected advancing step.

The advantage obtained by this construction is seen in the damping of the working noise of the machine inasmuch as the heretofore necessary carriage and the noise inherent to the turning-in and turning-out of the carriage will be avoided. Furthermore, the direct engagement of the oscillating lever with the counting wheel transmission and the course of movement of the oscillating lever characterized primarily by the two end positions, make possible the saving of the intermediate gear and a spring-loaded pawl. As a result thereof, the production costs for the device according to the invention are considerably lower than those for similar heretofore known devices. The design of the course of movement with the spacing of the oscillating lever in its basic position from the respective pertaining teeth of the gears permits an unimpeded displacement of the carriage.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, according to FIG. 1 an eccentric 1 connected to an amount controlling shaft of a calculating machine not shown in the drawing engages a for instance circular recess 3 provided at one end of an oscillating lever 2. The central portion of said oscillating lever has a kidney-shaped cutout 4 engaged by a deviating bolt 5 which is fixedly connected to the machine and which has a width in conformity with the width of the cutout. When the oscillating lever is by means of the eccentric l of the amount control roller moved in clockwise direction, the oscillating [ever will simultaneously slide over the deviating bolt into the position illustrated in dot-dash lines and will subsequently return to its starting position. As a result thereof, that free end of the oscillating lever which is adjacent the carriage carries out a movement indicated by dot-dash lines, for instance, in counterclockwise direction and advances by one division each two counting gears 8 and 9 which mesh with each other and are arranged on the shafts l0 and 11 of the carriage (FIG. 2). The counting gear 8 rotates in the assumed instance in clockwise direction, whereas the counting wheel 9 correspondingly turns in counterclockwise direction.

The free end of the oscillating lever is substantially forkshaped while its two control teeth 6 when occupying their basic position are spaced from the pertaining gear flanks of the counting gears 8 and 9. After a rotation of the eccentric by and after the counting gears have advanced by one division, the speed of rotation of the counting gears is zero. The two control teeth 6 will stop for a brief period in the dot-dash line position directly behind the just driven teeth 7", thereby preventing a possible forward or backward turning of the counting wheels. In view of the design of the cutout 4, the counting teeth 6 will during the remaining 180 turning movement of the eccentric subsequently be lifted to their basic position over the succeeding teeth. The basic position is sim ul taneously the starting position for the now possible next control step. According to another embodiment, the oscillating lever has only one control tooth and consequently preferably is arranged oppositely of only one gear.

As will be seen in FIG. 2, gears 8 and 9 are substantially coplanar while the respective control teeth 6 of lever 2 are laterally offset from each other. It will thus be seen that relative lateral movement between lever 2 and the gears 8 and 9 will bring the respective control teeth 6 of the lever into selective engagement with the respective gears. In this manner, the gears can be driven in either one direction or the other depending upon the laterally shifted relative position of the gears and lever 2.

It is, of course, to be understood that the present invention is, by no means, limited to the particular showing in the drawing, but also comprises any modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

l. A drive arrangement for use in a calculating machine operable for imparting indexing movement to gear means in response to rotary movement of a drive shaft; a drive shaft having an eccentric thereon, a lever having means at one end embracing said eccentric, gear engaging control tooth means on the other end of said lever, gear means to be engaged and indexed by said lever adjacent said other end of said lever and having teeth within the range of said control tooth means, and guide means engaging an intermediate portion of said lever and guiding said lever when the lever is actuated by rotation of said drive shaft to cause said control tooth means to engage between an adjacent pair of the teeth on said gear means and move the gear means an angular distance equal to the spacing between adjacent teeth thereof and then to disengage from said adjacent pair of teeth and return along a path spaced radially outwardly from said teeth on said gear means.

2. A drive arrangement according to claim 1, in which said lever, inthe rest position of said drive shaft has the control tooth means thereof disposed within the range of the said teeth on said gear means.

3. A drive arrangement according to claim 2, in which said lever brings said gear means to a halt at the end of an indexing movement of the gear means and prior to disengagement of said control tooth means from the teethon said gear means.

4. A drive arrangement according to claim 2, in which said gear means comprises first and second meshing gears, said control tooth means on said other end of said lever comprising first and second control teeth for engagement with the teeth of 

1. A drive arrangement for use in a calculating machine operable for imparting indexing movement to gear means in response to rotary movement of a drive shaft; a drive shaft having an eccentric thereon, a lever having means at one end embracing said eccentric, gear engaging control tooth means on the other end of said lever, gear means to be engaged and indexed by said lever adjacent said other end of said lever and having teeth within the range of said control tooth means, and guide means engaging an intermediate portion of said lever and guiding said lever when the lever is actuated by rotation of said drive shaft to cause said control tooth means to engage between an adjacent pair of the teeth on said gear means and move the gear means an angular distance equal to the spacing between adjacent teeth thereof and then to disengage from said adjacent pair of teeth and return along a path spaced radially outwardly from said teeth on said gear means.
 2. A drive arrangement according to claim 1, in which said lever, in the rest position of said drive shaft has the control tooth means thereof disposed within the range of the said teeth on said gear means.
 3. A drive arrangement according to claim 2, in which said lever brings said gear means to a halt at the end of an indexing movement of the gear means and prior to disengagement of said control tooth means from the teeth on said gear means.
 4. A drive arrangement according to claim 2, in which said gear means comprises first and second meshing gears, said control tooth means on said other end of said lever comprising first and second control teeth for engagement with the teeth of said first and second gears respectively, and said control teeth being laterally offset so that relative lateral movement between said gears and said lever will effect selective engagement of said first and second control teeth with said first and second gears, respectively.
 5. A drive arrangement according to claim 1, in which said guide means comprises a stationary pin, said lever having a kidney-shaped slot extending generally longitudinally of said lever and through which said pin extends with not more than small clearance. 